


Somewhere The Zipper Opens

by Jen425



Series: Journey Through The Decade [17]
Category: Kamen Rider - All Media Types, Kamen Rider Decade, Kamen Rider Gaim, Tokusatsu
Genre: A.R. Gaim!Natsumi, AR Riders, Alternate Universe, Angst and Humor, F/F, M/M, Multi, Past Relationship(s), minor canon divergence to the novel that spawned it his hc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:40:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25975333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen425/pseuds/Jen425
Summary: “It fits you,” Tsukasa murmurs. “That’s what I said, I think…”
Relationships: (past), Chinatsu/Hikari Natsumi, Hikari Natsumi/Kadoya Tsukasa/Kaitou Daiki/Onodera Yuusuke, Kadoya Tsukasa/Onodera Yuusuke
Series: Journey Through The Decade [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1782217
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	Somewhere The Zipper Opens

**Author's Note:**

> This is like. A prologue to the full AR Gaim arc. So, sadly, Natsumi’s arc begins with a lot of talking ABOUT her. Luckily, the OT4 has learned to be generally honest with each other, so she’ll learn most of it all soon enough.
> 
> And she will be an active player.

“Hey, Tsukasa,” Yuusuke says. “Is that really a… giant Orange?”

“I’d say it looks more like a mandarin,” Tsukasa replies, calmly, that way he gets when he’s feeling more than one emotion and hiding them. “You were the one who knocked down the background in the middle of the night.”

Yuusuke laughs, awkwardly. Tsukasa has him there. But he’d woken up for a nightmare he thankfully can’t remember, and he didn’t want to bother the others, so he’d slipped out of bed and come downstairs, tripping on his way to get some water in the dark.

Tsukasa had turned the light on after the glow of the new backdrop faded, which…

“What are  _ you _ doing down here?” Yuusuke questions. Tsukasa makes a noncommittal noise that is his version of a shrug.

“Didn’t feel the need,” he says, calmly. “You know how it is.”

Yuusuke, of course, actually does know how it is. His body has been weird ever since Narutaki had given him Kuuga’s belt and said that he could help fight Grongi and help Yashiro in the process. It’s not exactly a surprise, and his “brother” had given a better explanation, but that’s not the point.

“Yeah,” he says out loud. “Still. We all went to bed together yesterday.”

“Kaitou isn’t here, and you and Natsumi are heavy sleepers by comparison,” Tsukasa says. “I suppose I just… Didn’t feel the need to turn the lights on.”

“Oh,” Yuusuke offers. “So, tell Natsumi and Eijiro in the morning?”

Tsukasa makes another of his noncommittal noises.

Yuusuke sighs, and he goes to refill his cup, and he comes back to see Tsukasa staring intently at the backdrop, muttering something.

“ _ It fits you _ ,” Tsukasa murmurs. “That’s what I said, I think…”

“Tsukasa?” Yuusuke asks. Tsukasa blinks, and looks at him.

“It’s nothing,” he says. “Probably.”

Yuusuke sets his water down, sitting in the chair across from his partner and crossing his arms.

“Tsukasa,” he says, and he doesn’t have Natsumi’s laughing pressure point or the way Daiki alone can get Tsukasa riled up, but he doesn’t need them, as the other Rider eventually relents.

“Natsumikan,” he says. “I can feel every world, could open a portal to your world right this minute because I can feel it on you. I can’t…”

“You can’t find hers?”

Tsukasa nods.

“Yeah,” he says. “But… one of the first things I ever told her was ‘Natsmikan, it fits you’.” He looks down. “I don’t know why.”

“But there’s an orange on the backdrop,” Yuusuke says. Tsukasa shakes his head.

“Not an Orange,” he says. “I’d say it was a mandarin. Mikan. And it feels… familiar.”

Wait… so does that mean…

“Is this Natsumi’s world?” Yuusuke asks. “For real, this time?”

Tsukasa hmms.

“Perhaps,” he says. 

“Should we tell her?” Yuusuke asks. “I mean, after the last time, with World of Nega…”

“Who knows?” Tsukasa asks, leaning back. But there’s no doubt he’s his own quiet form of scared. “Photo studio should be in the same place; she’ll figure it out.”

Yuusuke sighs.

“I guess you’re right,” he says. “Do you think Daiki will be home soon?”

“About that time,” Tsukasa notes, before looking at Yuusuke again. “You should go back to sleep now, Yuusuke. I think you’ll need it.”

  
  
  


(“And that’s not all,” Tsukasa murmurs to himself, after Yuusuke returns to bed. “This world still has remnants of the worlds’ convergence.”)

  
  
  


Kureshima Chinatsu breathes a sigh of relief as she lets her transformation dissipate. Thank goodness.

The Forest, as she’s come to think of it, had gotten stronger a little under two years ago, and she refuses to go along with her brother’s plan until given absolutely no choice.

When she’d found out what he wanted for her friends, and then how Natsumi had “disappeared” right as the Cracks increased…

She’d  _ loved _ Natsumi, even after they’d gone their separate ways.

She turns to the Kurokage troopers, an earlier attempt.

“Clean this up,” she says, before making her way back to her apartment not two blocks away from the tall tower of Yggdrasil’s base. She doesn’t let herself limp until they’re out of sight and she can hop onto her Lock Vehicle.

“Chinatsu,” a voice says, softly.

“Tanaka-sensei,” she says, even before she’s fully turned. “What are you doing here?”

“Checking on you,” the teacher and Yggdrasil employee in disguise says. “I know it’s gotten harder.”

“You were going to use the club, when we were just kids,” Chinatsu replies, simply. “I can do this.”

“I know you’re planning something,” Tanaka replies, and before Chinatsu can grab her belt or consider how she would cover up a murder, he raises his hands. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell your brother. I care about them, too. That’s why I’m here.”

“What do you mean?” Chinatsu asks. Tanaka holds out a Lockseed.

“The Mandarin Lockseed,” he says, tossing it to her. “Dangerous for humans, but almost as powerful and the Genesis Drivers we’ve been designing.”

Chinatsu catches it.

“Why now?” She asks. Tanaka sighs, looking away.

“Something is coming, I think,” he says. “You’ll need it.”

  
  
  


(She goes home, and wakes up to the home phone ringing.

“Chinatsu?” Asks Natsumi’s voice. Which is…

“Natsumi?” She responds. “How are you alive?”)

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr @flaim-ita or @dancingqueen-mai for just Toku edits


End file.
